101 Dalmatians: the Series
101 Dalmatians was a cartoon on One Saturday Morning based on the classic Disney film of the same name. However, the show had a few more ties with the book. The series was on Disney Junior for awhile. The series ended with a three-parter called Dalmatian Vacation. Originally the episodes had two stories each, switching to one longer story each for season two. The theme song was done in a swing revival style. Characters *Lucky- the daring leader of the group. His spots were altered to his original from the book, where he is named after the horseshoe pattern on his back. *Spot- a chicken who wants to be a dog. She is notably masculine despite being a hen. *Cruella DeVille- the greedy villainess of the film and series whose name is a play on the words "cruel" and "devil". She is always trying to get the Dearly farm, but is no longer interested in skinning the puppies *Horace and Jasper- Cruella's bumbling henchmen. They are voiced by David Lander and Michael McKean, who also voiced the vultures in Jungle Cubs. McKean also played the lead guitarist in This is Spinal Tap. *Cadpig- only seen in the book, where she is the character nearly stillborn. She is noted for her long, floppy ears, large head, and kind personality. She is also quite strong for her size. It is possible she is the most intelligent of the puppies. She is voiced by Kath Soucie, who has done various other roles. She can fly despite not having wings. She is the only puppy with blue eyes. Her name is a colloquialism for "runt". *Rolly- a fat puppy who eats a lot and is always hungry. His gluttony often gets him and the puppies into trouble, but he is loyal and helpful when needed. He has a great sense of smell. *Roger and Anita Dearly- the owners of the puppies *Pongo and Perdita- the puppies' original parents. Pongo is voiced by Kevin Schon rather than the late Rod Taylor in the original film. Perdita is voiced by Pam Dawber instead of Cate Bauer. *Dipstick- a puppy named for his tail being mostly black as well as being somewhat dimwitted. He has a flea problem. *Wizzer- a puppy with a bladder control problem, introduced in the live action film as childish humor. *Tripod- a puppy with three legs. Despite his disability he is very athletic. He was neither in the film nor the original novel. *The Colonel- an Old English sheepdog. Acts like a World War I general. Commander of the Bark Brigade. *Lieutenant Pug- a pug who is a training officer of the Bark Brigade. He is pigeon-footed. Has PTSD. *Thunderbolt- an action hero dog whom Lucky idolizes *Scorch- Cruella's pet ferret, whom she wears like a mink scarf *Sergeant Tibbs- a tabby cat and close ally to The Colonel. *Nanny- the Dearlys' caretaker *Cornelia- Spot's overbearing mother who doesn't want Spot to act like a dog. *Lucy- a goose who gets upset if the puppies play in her pond *Swamp Rat- a rat salesman *Steven- an alligator and Swamp Rat's cohort *Cydne- a snake and another of Swamp Rat's cohorts *Ed- a pig who is mayor of the Dearly farm. May be a possible loose reference to the iconic dystopian novel Animal Farm. *Dumpling- Ed's daughter who fancies Lucky *Captain- a horse usually seen helping Nanny *Mooch- a sheepdog who can be annoying, but has a heart of gold. Has a gang featuring Dipstick and Wizzer. iTunes The show is available on iTunes. controversy In one episode, it is revealed that Cruella is a smoker. In the same episode, a rat salesman is revealed to own his species' equivalent of an adult magazine. Trivia Pop Culture *In one episode, Cruella tricks Roger into signing a performing contract after seeing how talented the puppies are. She has them wear costumes. Lucky's costume resembles the rinestone jumpsuit worn by Elvis Presley in the seventies. *One episode is entitled "Citizen Canine", after legendary movie Citizen Kane *Another episode is entitled "The Maltese Chicken, after The Maltese Falcon *Another is "Coup DeVil", the name of a Cadillac *One episode is entitled "An Offier and a Gentledog", an allusion to the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman *One episode is entitled "Howl Noon", an allusion to 1952 western movie High Noon *One episode is entitled "Purred it Through the Grapevine", an allusion to the song "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" *One episode is entitled "My Fair Chicken", after 1964 film My Fair Lady. Another is entitled "My Fair Moochie". *One episode is entitled "Twelve Angry Pups", after 1957 film 12 Angry Men. It contains references to the OJ Simpson trials *One episode is entitled "Jurassic Bark", after 1993 action film Jurassic Park *One episode is entitled "Dog Food Day Afternoon", after the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon *One episode is entitled "Animal House Party", after the 1978 film Animal House *One episode featured the late, great Gary Owens *One episode has Roger make a video game for Cruella. The game is called "Cruella-Nator" and depicts Cruella similarly to the Terminator. *In one episode, one of the cows mentions "As the World Churns", a reference to soap opera As the World Turns *In one episode, Spot becomes afraid of a monster chasing her. While running from the loud noise, she yells "Run Spot run!". This is a reference to the popular children's book See Spot Run. *In one episode Roger is working on a video game whose opening features a floating head resembling that of Super Mario 64. The main character is named Barkio. *In one episode Roger is working on a video game called "The Hunchbarx of Notre Dame", a reference to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Other *In one episode, a couple of the dogs fall into some soot. One of them comments that the experience feels familiar. This is an allusion to the labrador disguise in the original movie. *In one episode, Cadpig is captured by the dog catcher. She is taken to a dog pound that resembles an island prison. This is an allusion to the famous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco (closed in 1963, but still in operation when the original film debuted). *One episode is entitled "The making of..." and has the pups discuss the original concepts for the series *One episode has the puppies attempt to break into the kibble tower. Their first attempt is to have Cadpig fall onto a see-saw to launch Rolly into the tower. After this fails due to Rolly being heavier than Cadpig, Rolly says "Ground control, we have a problem". This is a reference to "Houston, we've had a problem" from the Apollo 13 mission. *In one episode, the Colonel tries to teach the pups the Barking Code. This is a reference to the Twilight Bark from the original movie. *In one episode, they convert ten miles into seventy "dog miles" referring to the common belief that one "dog year" equals seven human years. *In one episode, a monster is described as "half alligator, half disgruntled postal worker". This refers to several incidents over the years in which "disgruntled" (upset) mail carriers committed mass murders. *Thunderbolt from the original film makes an appearance, voiced by Frank Welker. Category: cartoons Category: One Saturday Morning Category:Film Adaptations